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Trump Continues to Attack Michigan Governor in Rally Speeches; Decision on Subpoena for Trump Tax Returns Now in Hands of Supreme Court; GOP Tries to Hold onto Its Slim Majority in the Senate. Aired 11:30-12p ET

Aired October 19, 2020 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:30:04]

CATHERINE LUCEY, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Well, certainly, we've seen the president use some of his sharpest words in some of these political foes and often on women. And he is concerned about Michigan. I think that's clear. But, of course, the question here is how this kind of rhetoric helps.

One of the other things we've heard from the president in recent days is real appeals to women in the suburbs. He keeps telling women in the suburbs, you have to vote for me, I saved your neighborhoods, please like me. And it's not clear that saying those things and then you criticizing a female governor of the state that he only won by a handful of votes last time is necessarily going to be helpful.

JOHN KING, CNN INSIDE POLITICS: And, Alex, as a flipside to this, of course, the president needs to try to get back that blue wall, back the states he flipped, he broke from the blue wall, Pennsylvania, 20 electoral votes, that's the biggest prize of those. Joe Biden is trying to block, if you will. If he can hold those states, if he hold what he has now, he's the next president.

But assuming maybe something doesn't go your way, he's trying to find a block, North Carolina among them. Obamacare '08 with record historic African-American turnout, the Republicans carry it in '12 and then again in '16. Joe Biden was there trying to say, please, help me. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We've got to keep the incredible momentum going. We can't let up. You can vote early in person, until the 31st, but don't wait.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The chance gets interesting right now and part of the calculation is which states do you spend your time and money in. Biden has money this year. The other parts, and Democrats are a little nervous this week, and that he has no public events scheduled. Maybe he will add them. But he has no public events scheduled right

now, he's doing debate prep because of the final debate prep on Thursday. I know his message is, I'm being responsible if the middle of a pandemic, some Democrats are a bit nervous he might be taking it a bit too far.

ALEX BURNS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: That's right. You don't have the same kind of determination on the Biden side of this race to drive the news cycle nationally every single day.

I do think it's significant that Senator Harris is headed to Florida and North Carolina in this sort of down period for the former vice president in that when you talk about states that Democrats hope to see as a kind of checkmate win on election night, those two both definitely fall into that category, where we may not know the result in a Pennsylvania or Michigan on election night. We're much likelier to know the result in a place like Florida or North Carolina.

And so to the extent that you can drive upturn out among core Democratic constituencies in those states, that potentially serves an even more productive purpose because of the way votes are going to get counted.

KING: That's an excellent. Our election night is going to be fascinating because of all the mail-in ballots. Some states might be able to help us, give us a good clue, anyway.

And, Catherine, I want to come back to the point John Harwood was making, because the president does trust his instincts and we need to watch him because the president did mount an amazing comeback in 2016 and he's the president of the United States. But listen to this take on the road where he says, this is one reason you should worry about Joe Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: If you vote for Biden, he will surrender your jobs to China, he will surrender your future to the virus. He's going to lockdown. He's going to want us to lockdown. He'll listen to the scientists. If I listen totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression, instead we're like a rocket ship, take a look at the numbers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: A few things here. We're not like a rocket ship, unemployment filings are going back up again. The coronavirus recovery has slowed, number one. Suburban -- one of the reasons Joe Biden's support is even bigger than 2018 Democratic numbers in the suburbs is because a lot of women especially wish this president would listen to scientists and they're not so afraid of any president listening to truth and science.

But on that campaign call I was just talking about, the president of the United States just called his top scientist, at least on paper when it comes to infectious diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a disaster, a disaster. The president continues to do things that any polling data, any focus group, any conversations the three of us might have with voters in places that matter most with the president sure sound counterproductive.

LUCEY: The president is continuing this kind of rhetoric about his advisers, about the virus and it's frustrating enough for a lot of Republicans running their own campaigns. Senate Republicans running for re-election in the states, folks who were working with them say that this makes their jobs a lot harder. You have a number of candidates who are running behind the president's say in their states. And this kind of rhetoric does not help them on the campaign trail either.

KING: And, Alex, back to that point. I mean, just -- again, I just -- I don't get it sometimes and so I keep trying to find out, okay, is there some secret sauce to this strategy here. But for the president of the United States to call Dr. Anthony Fauci a disaster on a time when Dr. Anthony Fauci was on 60 Minutes last night, he seems determined to counter the president. He will not describe it this way. He will say he's just giving interviews, but he's out there saying, wear your mask, he's out there saying the president was reckless at the White House.

Now the president attacking him 15 days out as a disaster, when we know Dr. Fauci goes back to the George H.W. Bush administration.

[11:35:04]

He does not want to be a partisan. He's in the middle of this campaign right now. But he has high respect among the American people. I'm not sure I get the strategic brilliance here.

BURNS: I'm not sure that there's a strategy of any particular kind here, John. I think we're hearing the president try to sort of just will an alternative reality into existence where the economy is surging and the virus is fading and the American people -- you look at any public poll and you talk to any Republican or Democratic strategist who is doing polling, and the electorates are just not buying it.

And it's why you hear folks, not just like Anthony Fauci, but like Mitch McConnell, for crying out loud, saying, wear your mask. And you're going to need to wear your mask for the indefinite future.

KING: They're not buying what president says because they're living something very different. You can tell people, don't believe what you live every single day and what you see around you.

Alex Burns, Catherine Lucey, grateful for the reporting and insights.

And this just in to CNN. We're getting some new information now about how the Commission on Presidential Debates is preparing for Thursday's debate between the president and Democratic Nominee Joe Biden.

With me now is CNN's Dan Merica. And, Dan, this is a conversation the commission has to have because of what happened at the first debate. I'll say just it was a tad impolite. What are they working on?

DAN MERICA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: What happened at the first debate, that's a good way to put what devolved into pretty much utter chaos at the first debate. You're right, John. The commission is meeting this afternoon to discuss what possible rule changes to make for that final debate, what would have been the third debate, but the second debate was canceled between Trump and Biden.

Now, it's important to note that there is a possibility that no changes could be made. One commission member told me that there is a chance that nothing could be changed. It's also worth noting that this meeting is also intended to verify that each of the candidates, Trump and Biden, have reached the 15 percent threshold to qualify for the debate, of course, they have.

But as you note, this comes in the wake of that chaotic first debate where you saw President Trump routinely interrupts Joe Biden leading Biden to fire back against the president. And the commission admitted after that debate, it devolved into a bit of chaos.

Now, that chaos has continued over the last few weeks for the debate commission. The second debate, which was meant to be a town hall debate, was canceled after Trump pulled out of that debate because it was going to have to be virtual because of his coronavirus diagnosis. And now that leads up -- puts a lot of pressure on this final debate in Nashville because it's going to be the final thought that a lot of voters have on their minds when they go to the polls in November or even during early voting.

The Biden campaign came out after the first debate and said that they supported changes. Biden himself said that it was chaotic and he wanted changes. The Trump campaign has said they do not want changes. They accuse the commission of moving the goal post after the game has started, essentially.

But this is an important moment for the Trump campaign. As you noted on your last segment, he is trailing the national polls and state polls. This is the best profile, the last best profile -- platform, excuse me, that he has to make the case to the American people. And if the debate rules change, if there's ways to curve the interruptions that he had in that first debate, that could impact his debate performance, John.

KING: It certainly could. It might actually help him if he didn't interrupt so much but that's -- the president doesn't take advise from others, he does it his way. Dan Merica, grateful for the reporting. Let us know if the decision is reached to change anything.

Up next for us, this matters to you and your wallet. The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi says if there is to be a stimulus deal by Election Day to get it passed, well, they have to have an agreement by tomorrow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:00] KING: Some important breaking news now about the president's more than yearlong fight to keep his financial records out of the hands of New York prosecutors. The Manhattan district attorney wants those records dating back eight years.

The president's lawyers have been fighting this for months. And a new legal wrinkle this morning now sends this conversation, this question, this debate to the United States Supreme Court, just two weeks, of course, before the presidential election.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz joins me now with the details. Shimon, what is the legal maneuver here, and it goes to the high court, do we know how quickly the high court might act?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We don't know how quickly they will act. There's no deadline, there's no timeframe in terms of when they need to act. But Manhattan prosecutors here have said they need these documents soon, right? They're in the middle of a criminal investigation, a grand jury investigation.

And one of the things they've argued is that people's recollections go away. Things they remember go away. And so because they're in the middle of this criminal investigation, they need the documents sooner rather than later and they've been fighting for months to get these documents.

And, of course, this is now the second time, John, that the president has gone to the Supreme Court asking for them to step in, the first time around, of course, they denied his initial request not to turn over the documents at all. But they then said, okay, we're going to let some of these other issues be decided by the lower court and the lower court did decide.

Remember, the president, again, went to the federal judge here in New York saying that some of this was overreach by prosecutors here, saying some of this was retaliatory.

[11:45:03]

That judge denied the president's claims and it then went to an appeals court here in New York. They too have denied the president's request to further delay this.

So now, we are back at the Supreme Court where they will ultimately make the decision. The president's attorney here, in essence, is arguing for a short extension of a stay. There's been this stay in place. I think, ultimately, certainly, what some of the judges here who have decided this, since a lot of the lawyers around this case feel that they're trying to delay this, that the president has been trying to delay this past the election and certainly past January during his presidency.

And this has been a delay tactic that's been going on for quite some time now. Manhattan prosecutors arguing that they need these documents as soon as possible at this point. KING: Yes, and it's not just going on in the courts. This is a fight the president has been waging breaking the norms of releasing your taxes, criticizing every time something leaks out, now fighting in the courts before the election. It's on the Supreme Court's plate now. At least it's at its final stop. We'll see when we get an answer. Shimon Prokupecz grateful for the reporting there.

Up next for us, vulnerable Senate Republicans in Senate races, some of them now attempting to create a little distance between themselves and an unpopular president.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:50:00]

KING: Two weeks out, and Democrats see improving odds of taking back the Senate majority. Republicans hold a slim three-seat majority now. But there are 23 Republican seats up for re-election. Democrats a net gain of just four Republican seats to flip the chamber.

The president's poll struggles are increasing, late campaign pressure on embattled Republicans. Stick with him or try to create some space.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you proud of support for Donald Trump?

SEN. CORY GARDNER (R-CO): I am proud of the work that we have done together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you proud of your support for President Trump?

SEN. MARTHA MCSALLY (R-AZ): Well, I am proud and I am fighting for Arizonans on things like cutting your taxes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The question is are you proud of your support for President Trump?

MCSALLY: I'm proud to be fighting for Arizona every single day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: With me now, Jessica Taylor, Senate and Governors Editor for The Cook Political Report.

It is interesting, Jessica, to watch these debates, watch the candidates try to sort of kind of before the president, but then and get a little bit of space. When you do the math, if you look at the math right now, Democrats need that net four. Colorado, Arizona and Maine appear to be states where the Democrats are poised, 15 days to go, poised.

Now, walk through some of the other key races in this calculation as we go into the final two weeks.

JESSICA TAYLOR, SENATE AND GOVERNORS EDITOR, THE COOK POLITICAL REPORT: Well, I'm also factoring Alabama in there too which Republicans are likely to pick up. And so that's when it leaves the tipping point states is most likely North Carolina or Iowa.

And, of course, North Carolina has been rocked there by Cal Cunningham, who has this extramarital affair scandal, but even that doesn't seem to be moving the numbers. And Republican incumbent there, Thom Tillis, was one of those that has been positioning himself, saying outright that he would be a check on a Biden administration.

So you are seeing these incumbents sort of more subtly than usual say, okay, it looks like this presidential race may be baked, do you want unified government giving Democrats control and possibly eliminating the filibuster or adding seats to the Supreme Court.

But I think still differentiating yourself from this president is really tough because he doesn't make it easy. Because if you criticize him, you're going to get a tweet, you're going to get criticism. Susan Collins got that just last week because she has, of course, broken with them on the Supreme Court.

But even after that, the fact that we have a dozen Republican House seats that we consider competitive at this point. So after Iowa, you have Montana, that is very much in a margin of error race. You have not one but two seats in Georgia. But, look, they're headed to runoffs in January as well.

KING: And one seat we're watching, it would be a wow in a year of wow, it would be a wow, wow, wow, is South Carolina. Because the Democratic candidate there has raised millions and millions and millions of dollars, as have many Democratic candidates this year.

But Lindsey Graham, the Republican chair of the Judiciary Committee, in a state you usually think of in presidential year, just forget about it, right, it is ruby red, the poll had him down, I believe, six points, which is close-ish. We'll see what happens. But he is trying to get some late campaign help and he has got a lot of money to put in T.V. ads from the most popular Democrat in the country. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: You want a senator who will fight for criminal justice reform, lower college costs and make health care affordable, you've got to vote for my friend, Jaime Harrison. This is the biggest election of our lifetime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Number one, having Obama on your side helps if you're a Democrat. South Carolina is more iffy, if you will. That tells me Harrison campaign realizes they need off the charts African-American turnout if they're going to have a prayer.

TAYLOR: They do. And I think that poll you referenced, The New York Times poll that had it down six, I do think it was sort of undersampling African-American voters and still had double-digit African-American undecided. [11:55:00]

I think those are likely to go to Harrison if we're breaking it down. And both Republican and Democratic internal that I have seen, again, show this as a margin of error race.

And I think this one is also that's somewhat uniquely about Lindsey Graham. Of course, I think, more than anyone in the Senate, he has undergone just an amazing transformation from vocal Trump critic in 2016 to loyal Trump ally, that some conservatives still aren't completely sold on that evolution in the state. And then he has also alienated moderates and even some center-left Democrats in the state that would vote for him too.

And, again, Harrison with that $57 million that he has brought in over the last quarter which just obliterated the previous fundraising record, he is able to do that. He is able to just blanket the state in ads. They're also hoping that a third party candidate who remains on the ballot despite dropping out, and endorsing Graham could get pick off enough to sort of give him a plurality in order to win.

KING: A great reminder. We focus most of our time on the presidential race, but especially there are a lot of races down ballot, especially the ballots apparently in the Senate, incredibly consequential. Jessica Taylor, grateful for your time and your reporting. We'll stay on top of this the next 15 days as well.

Up next, the president of the United States goes after his top doctor on infectious diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci. In the president's words, he's a disaster.

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